Neo Europe: Heaven
by AlcatrazisGod
Summary: [Conclusion to Neo Europe] Italy finally solidifies as a world power, thus recreating the Axis Powers. This inspires a fascist revolution in the area which use to be Spain. Fuhrer Hoss orders a massive military operation in the Mediterranean Sea for no clear reason. While this takes place, Re-L begins searching for the remnants of the long lost ODESSA organization.
1. Blood like Charcoal

_Note: And so begins the second half of my __Neo Europe series__. I was actually planning to release __Heaven__ right after I finished __Redshift__, but now there are only three chapters of that story remaining, and I've already had this chapter finished for a little while. I decided to go ahead and publish this first chapter seeing as how this story is going to be long. There is a lot more that needs to be covered. The events mentioned in the summary are all major factors in this particular part of __Neo Europe__. Not only that, but I have decided to retell the story of how the People's Reich came to be. I only glossed over the revolutions in New Berlin for three chapters. However, there is so much more that needs to be told which will help develop the senior staff. Therefore, every once and awhile, a chapter will be following young Anton Hoss and Joseph Hermann as they rise to power in New Berlin. So if you have not read the original Neo Europe, you won't have a clue as to what's going on in this first chapter. I hope you all like this story just as much as its predecessor, please leave your thoughts. And if you would like to read more of my works for Ergo Proxy, then I would strongly recommend Redshift and the upcoming Quiet Town which will be released sometime soon. I already know what it's going to be about but I will not say anything about it until it has been released._

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><p><em>"Every anarchist is a baffled dictator." ~Benito Mussolini<em>

**Interval I- ****Blood like Charcoal**

_(Location: Bavaria, People's Reich 'Territory')_

_(Date: December 19th, 304AI)_

Bavaria. It use to be a famous province of Old Germany. Bavaria was at one point, an area of rich forests and tall mountains. Now, it was nothing more than a wasted ground. The only thing that remained were the mountains, but they were not nearly as awe striking as they use to be. It was snowing in the Bavarian Alps. This snow brought back long lost memories from an old empire. Several empires in fact. It was hear that one could retreat, and simply listen to the haunting voices of ghosts from Germany's past. The place was indeed riddled with lost souls from a long lost nation.

The nation of Germany however, still lived on. It was merely in a different place now. Yet that did not stop the government of the Fourth Reich from claiming everything that was once Germany. At the moment, those government officials along with their families and closest friends were having the time of their lives here in these very mountains.

On one particular mountain named Kehlstein, they held their celebration. At one point, this mountain served as a retreat for the one and only Adolf Hitler. It was built as a birthday present which was given to him by the chief of the Parteikanzlei, Martin Bormann on behalf of the entire NSDAP. That retreat was called the Kehlsteinhaus, or the Eagle's Nest. It was built in 1938. Ironically, fast forward to 5,270 years in the future and the Eagle's Nest was still standing. Of course, it was not in the great condition it was currently in were it not for a little help. In the year of 299AI when the People's Reich finally solidified as a world power, the senior staff of this nation planned for the Eagle's Nest to be rebuilt. In that very same year, the man they call Anton Hoss ordered an expedition into the Bavarian Alps after being constantly nagged by his right hand man, Heinrich Welinch.

In secret, Reichsführer, Welinch along with the assistance of the other top members of Hoss's cabinet were able to locate the old sight where the Eagle's Nest was originally located. Naturally, the government ordered it to be refurbished and modernized. They did this all without the Fuhrer's knowledge. Then, during the very next year, they made a huge announcement. It was on Fuhrer Hoss's birthday when they informed him that his gift from the entire country, would be Adolf Hitler's famous mountain retreat. Naturally, Anton absolutely adored this present. Hoss was even brought to tears when they revealed this to him. Unfortunately though, this would only be the second time the Fuhrer and his senior staff have visited the Eagle's Nest. They obviously visited it first in 300AI but since then they have been incredibly busy. Now however, there was definitely reason to celebrate.

Here to celebrate this winter party was of course the Fuhrer himself. In several parts of the world he was the devil incarnate, but here with his fellow Germans he was looked upon as a god among men. Fuhrer Anton Hoss had clean cut black hair, brown eyes, and an SA uniform with a red armband on his right arm. Ironically, the symbol on this armband was not a swastika but an iron cross. This was due to the fact that the Fuhrer did not like the swastika. In his opinion, the swastika did not represent Germany as well as the iron cross did. Of course the iron cross illustrated on his person. Two medals on his chest were iron crosses. Unlike the stereotypical dictator, Fuhrer Hoss was much more modest and would not fill his chest with unnecessary decorations. He only wanted to show off the items that he has truly earned during his services with the German people.

The Fuhrer had also brought his wife Margret along as well who for the longest time was merely his mistress. Hoss never really desired a marriage because he felt it would ruin his popularity with the female population of Germany, but he finally gave in several years ago. Margret Hoss had dark blonde hair and brown eyes. She often wore classical Germanic dresses such as the one she was wearing now although it was covered by the Fuhrer's long coat. After all, a dress was not the most appropriate attire when it was snowing outside. She was sitting on one of the stone guardrails on the edge of the balcony of the Eagle's nest while she watched the Fuhrer laugh, and tell jokes to the other members of the senior staff. Strangely enough, nobody was wearing a protective mask to be out here. Here at these higher altitudes, they really did not need to. At standard altitude on the ground, the toxicity levels of the outside world were dropping to the point where they were no longer necessary either which would mean that here on top of a mountain, there was most certainly no point in wearing any protective gear other than a jacket to keep oneself warm.

There on the balcony with Fuhrer Hoss were the other important figures of the Reichstag in New Berlin. The first would be Minister of Foreign Affairs, Reginald Schrude. Reginald had black hair and brown eyes just like the Fuhrer did. He often wore top hat, classy black suit, and walked with a stylish cane as well. Most of the time, everyone just called him Ambassador Reginald Schrude. While he was indeed an ambassador, his primary job was to supervise the German embassies and keep the peace in the Reich. During a majority of these events, he was able to do his job but every once and awhile, someone simply wanted a fight with the Germans.

Standing next to Reginald was a young man named Hans Westmar. Hans was the Sturmführer of the Reich. In short, he was in charge of all things conducted by the Sturmabteilung. Westmar wore an SA uniform as expected, although, he also had on a brown long coat which is issued to all members of the SA along with the standard uniform. He had black hair and light brown eyes. He was the second youngest member of Hoss's senior staff. The youngest member, who was also the more recent addition to the German administration was a woman standing just to Westmar's right side.

This woman's name was Re-L Mayer. She was the only member of Anton's administration who was not a native German. She had average length black hair and blue eyes which were only complemented by her blue eyeshadow. Ironically, she was always made fun of by the Reichsführer for her blue eyeshadow. In actuality, it was not a very stylish form of makeup. Eyeshadow itself is always nice, but blue eyeshadow is never in season which gave Mr. Welinch the opportunity to always poke fun at her for it.

Again, Re-L was the only person at the Reichstag who was not born in New Berlin. Ironically, she was one of the more loyal and dedicated followers of the Fuhrer yet she was born in the domed city of Romdeau. The regent of that particular city was Fuhrer Hoss's archenemy for the longest time. During the days of the nationalist and communist revolutions to overthrow New Berlin's unfit democratic ruler, Weimar; Donvo Mayer often went out of his way to target the nation of Germany when it was still weak. However, after the Reich rose to prominence and became a world recognized power, he promptly backed off. Romdeau would soon fall and when there was no place else for Re-L and her little friends to run to, Fuhrer Hoss invited them into the Reich where he gave them work and a very classy apartment.

Re-L wore her usual thick white coat over a Schutzstaffel uniform. Indeed, when Fuhrer Hoss learned of her and Vincent managing to keep the human race from being burnt alive at the hands of a single Proxy, he awarded her the position of SS-Chief of Intelligence. She would serve directly under the Reichsführer-SS.

She and Westmar were on the left side of the balcony while a man named Vincent Law and a little AutoReiv named Pino were in what could very well be the world's first _tactical_ snowball fight. Westmar and Mayer were using whatever strategies they had learned to gain the upper hand on the Proxy and AutoReiv. Well, Westmar was fighting with them, Re-L was standing on the sidelines assisting her comrade whenever she felt she was needed. Most of the other senior officials were surprised to see Re-L even remotely participating in such an event. Of course, Hans would but Re-L by nature was probably the direct opposite of him. However, for this one vacation to the Bavarian Alps, Re-L was actually having fun.

The only reason the Proxy could even stand to be outside was thanks to the winter clouds blocking out the blue skies above. None of the less, Vincent adored seeing Re-L in such an optimistic mood, but he knew it would only be for a short time. As soon as everyone returned to New Berlin, she would be back to her own grouchy ways. This did not bother Vincent too much at the moment. They still had another two weeks here before they finally would leave. The only reason Re-L was acting so joyously was due to her deep desire to be here. Ever since she arrived in the Reich and heard the stories about the last time the government officials took a vacation to the Eagle's Nest, she desperately wanted to take part in the next vacation to the Reich's claimed territories in Bavaria. Now, her wish had been granted.

Away from this brawl in the snow stood a man in a black long coat that matched his all black Schutzstaffel uniform. He had dark brown hair done up in a military cut and brown eyes. His eyes were covered with a pair of circular glasses which he always wore to improve his vision. He also wore a black visor cap on his head. His name was Heinrich Welinch. Heinrich was the Reichsführer-SS and Minister of the Interior. This meant that he was the soul figure to lead the SS and he also managed the inner workings of the armed forces. Heinrich was the most feared man in Europe. He was even more intimidating than the Fuhrer himself. Anytime Anton needed someone to get a more dangerous job done, he called on his right hand man, Heinrich Welinch to do it. When the enemies of the Reich would not listen to diplomatic reason, Heinrich would be sent in to 'deal' with them. He was the Fuhrer's henchman and enforcer. When one did not obey the Fuhrer, they did not obey the Reichsführer. That would make the situation a whole lot worse.

However, regardless of the intimidating aura Heinrich gave off, he was the Fuhrer's closet friend. He was one of the only two people in the Reichstag who dared call him by his first name. The second person who has no problem calling the Fuhrer by his informal name would be Reginald Schrude. Those three were often associated with each other as 'the' top brass of the German government. Even though Heinrich was a fear inducing person, as long as one could manage to get on his good side, he could always be relied upon as a friend and mentor rather than a ruthless tyrant. Re-L of all people would know this above anyone else.

When she began her life here in the Reich, she had to be trained before she could enter the SS academy. There she would receive a formal training in the inner workings of SS but before she could do that, Heinrich Welinch kept her out of the school for the first month or so. Anton had already agreed to give her a very powerful position as a reward for her heroism. While Heinrich appreciated not being burned alive by those missiles in Romdeau, he was not about to let some mongrel ruin everything he had worked so hard to build up. So for the first month, Re-L was practically tortured with constant drilling sessions, Heinrich psychologically toying with her, and nearly having her killed the first time she attempted to give up. Heinrich did not allow her to yield to the brutal training but he did not go easy on her either. Instead, he turned up the difficulty and forced her to continue. Eventually, she had managed to earn his trust and admiration. After that, the two were almost inseparable. Wherever Heinrich went, Re-L was sure to follow.

Vincent had a lot to thank Heinrich for even if he was too afraid of the man to do it. Re-L had been shaped into a far better person than she use to be. She was even nicer to him which made Vincent feel relieved that someone such as Heinrich was around to destroy her spoiled nature and mold her into a new personality. She was still slightly unbearable at times and very rarely showed any other emotions other than anger, but she was far more tolerable now than ever before.

Heinrich stood there, leaning against the concrete divider between the balcony, and a free fall straight down to the foot of the mountain. An AutoReiv was standing next to him, speaking with him in a quite manner. Since the Germans banned the use of AutoReivs almost directly after Hoss took power, this robot would be Kristeva.

Kristeva was now Pino's guardian. She kept watch over the mechanical child who was now playing in the snow before her. Kristeva was also in the process of finally having a private conversation with the Reichsführer. She had met him a time or two before, but she had never have had the privilege to speak with him directly. At this point, she was merely trying to get to know him a little better.

"I take it Miss Mayer has been enjoying this vacation," Kristeva stated formally.

"Looks like it," Heinrich informed as he crossed his arms. "I tell you one thing, I'm surprised she hasn't just pouted in a corner the entire time," Heinrich admitted in a slightly shocked tone. "I was expecting her to lock herself in the bedroom we set up for her and not come out until it was time to return home. Oh well, I'm glad I don't have to have her shot in front of everyone."

"I'm sure she is not as terrible as you make her out to be," Kristeva replied. "But regardless," she abruptly corrected herself as she realized they were no longer on the topic she was previously speaking with Heinrich about. "I previously inquired you about national relations with the Socialist Republic of Russia. I know Ambassador Schrude himself was sent to improve our standings with Leskov not but a month ago."

"Ah," Heinrich said dismissively as his eyes averted from the snowball fight to a pair of highly decorated SS troops her were currently walking up to him. Those two men were in his personal guard which would mean that something weird was going on and he would have to deal with it. "I wouldn't worry about the commies," Heinrich continued, not taking his eyes off the guardsmen who were approaching him. "We'll blast them off the face of the earth if they try anything."

Heinrich then stood completely upright and lifted his right arm in the air as his two guards came within range of him. The two saluted and simultaneously stated the phrase, "Hail Hoss."

"Hail," Heinrich replied and the three lowered their arms. "Now, what can I do for you two?"

"My Reichsführer," the guard on the left began. "We have just been informed that the Proxy Fuhrer Hoss has invited to the Reichstag has just arrived in New Berlin a few days ago. By your orders, she is being held up in the SS-Intelligence Office until further notice. And as you ordered, the guardsmen assigned to watch over her have not been letting her out of their sight. She is cooperative as well. Is there anything you wish our comrades at home to do, or would that be all for now?"

Vincent abruptly dropped the snowball he was aiming at Re-L as he heard the guard speaking with Heinrich. He then turned and ran off towards them. Re-L narrowed her eyes at him as she watched him leave.

"No, that will be all," Heinrich said. The two soldiers saluted him and were about to dismiss themselves before Vincent ran up to the group.

"Um," he began nervously. "I'm sorry to interrupt you Mr. Welinch, but did something happen to Marina?"

"Huh," Welinch questioned in confusion but quickly realized what he was asking. "Oh no. Actually, I have just been informed that she has arrived safely in New Berlin. Now quit nagging me about her. Go play with Pino and enjoy yourself. That friend of yours is just fine."

Vincent smiled in satisfaction and gave a nod to the Reichsführer. He would have turned around on his own had a snowball not have hit him the back of the head. Vincent glanced over his shoulder to see Re-L winding up to throw another one at him.

Within the blink of an eye, Re-L jumped as she felt a sudden gust of wind and simultaneously realized that there was no longer a snowball in her right hand. Just as she realized Vincent had disappeared, she felt a cold yet soft orb of snow hit her in the back. She quickly turned around and noticed Vincent standing a foot away from her with a slightly cocky smile on his face.

Re-L abruptly leaned down and grabbed another ball of snow before flinging it in Vincent's direction. The Proxy flickered out of sight once more and the snowball flew directly for Reichsmarschall Albert Kantor who was standing in the background. It hit him in the chest which caused snow to stick to his blue long coat. Mr. Kantor had brown hair and a light green eyes. He was the head of the Luftwaffe. Indeed, the man responsible for the most powerful air force in the known world, and Re-L Mayer just hit him with a snowball.

"Pino," Kantor sighed and glared at Re-L. "Vincent. Congratulations. You two now have my support." With that said, Kantor reached down and gathered up a small pile of snow. He then calmly molded it into the shape of a sphere before abruptly throwing it directly at Re-L.

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><p>Night would come quickly for the men and women of the Eagle's Nest. At twilight, everyone retreated inside to the main room which granted a nice view of the balcony and the snow covered mountains on the horizon. While everyone was busy laughing and talking casually to each other in that room, or they were preparing dinner in the kitchen, Heinrich and Anton were no where to be seen. Instead, they were both sitting in Hoss's study.<p>

This work space was an average sized room. Bookshelves lined the walls. A single red banner with an iron cross on it was hung up just behind Hoss who was sitting at his large wooden desk. Sitting in a chair on the other side of this desk was the Reichsführer. Anton had called his right hand man into his study to speak with him privately. The Fuhrer had been acting strangely all day, and Heinrich was definitely curious about this behavior. Now it would appear that he was about to find out why this behavior was a factor.

"Heinrich," Anton explained. "Do you know that this very room where sitting in right now use to be the very same room Fuhrer Hitler used for his own study?"

"I did know that my Fuhrer," Heinrich nodded with an awkward look in his eyes.

"Every time I step in here," Anton began. "I feel as if I'm being watched. I wonder, if our spiritual Fuhrer is looking down on me as we speak. Heinrich... Have I done my job as a leader to the German people? If our spiritual Fuhrer were to return tomorrow, would he look at me and say, 'Anton, I am proud to say that you are a great successor to what I built thousands of years ago. You are a true guardian of the German people.'"

Heinrich nodded once more, but this time with a more stern expression on his face. "I know for a fact that he would Anton," Heinrich said with confidence. "Why do you ask though? That was kind of out of the blue."

"I know it was Heinrich," Anton replied in an almost depressed manner. "The reason I ask this. The reason that I called you in here is because my time has come. I've led the nation of Germany from the very beginning. I built it with the help of you and every last one of my supporters. For that, I thank you and everyone else as deeply as I possible can. Words cannot describe my admiration of you. You specifically my Reichsführer. You see, I've been in this position for too long and I'm growing old now. I think it's time, for me to retire."

"That's insane," Heinrich exclaimed and practically threw his chair to the ground. He stood up with a harsh expression and scolded his own Fuhrer. "You can't leave office now! We're on the verge of avenging our ancestors. We're finally about to humiliate the Allies for everything they did to us in the last two world conflicts! Now of all times you want to retire!? I cannot... no, I will not allow it. You can't leave the Reichstag. You're the Fuhrer! You're our only Fuhrer! Is that not our nation's motto!? One people, one Reich, one Deutschland, one Fuhrer! You are the one Fuhrer. Without you our nation is useless! You can't..."

"_Enough_," Hoss ordered firmly which caused Heinrich to immediately quiet down. "Heinrich, I'm leaving the Reichstag and that's the end of it. That's why I've called you in here. Heinrich Welinch, I want you to be the next leader of our nation."

Welinch was stunned. He froze in place. He was both overwhelmed with depressed, and utterly shocked. For a split second he blacked out and felt as if he was about to faint. "My Fuhrer," Heinrich murmured. "I can't lead this country. I'm an SS-man. Nothing more. You are really selecting me of all people to take your place?"

"I couldn't think of anyone I would trust more than you," Hoss confirmed. "Now, it won't be right away of course. After all, you just said we have to humiliate the Allies. That is my job. I'm going to destroy them, then I'll hand the position over to you. Now, is that satisfactory for you?"

"Fine," Heinrich breathed. "I'll do it."

"You only need to make me two promises," Hoss informed. "Promise me that you will put the interests of the nation above your own feelings. Promise me that you will not ignore the needs of our fellow Germans. They are the priority, not you."

"I swear," Heinrich replied firmly.

"And finally, do you swear to never leave your people when your job in incomplete? For instance, I refuse to leave until I know my job as Fuhrer has been completed. Promise that you will only hand the title of Fuhrer down to the next man in line when you are certain that you have not only done your job as leader of the Reich, but that you will also never leave until you know you have also been a good leader."

Heinrich saluted his Fuhrer, yet his right hand was still shaking in sorrow. "I swear it!"

"Good," Anton nodded. "Now, turn that frown upside down," he said with a growing smile. That was one thing Hoss could always due. When he wanted the mood to change, he would change it himself. "We've got a vacation to enjoy! Just, don't tell anyone what we've talked about here. When the time is right, I will announce my retirement to the whole world."

"Very well," Heinrich said with a trembling tone. He was truly depressed. He never imagined the Fuhrer would ever leave the Reichstag. Of course, at some point he had to retire but nobody ever thought about such a thing. Nobody was willing to speak about such a thing. Their admiration for the Fuhrer led them to shy away from this topic until now.

"I will lead the nation after you are gone."

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><p>Vincent woke up to the sound of a voice calling to him. His vision was blurred at first but he quickly realized where he was. He was currently sitting on one of the sofas in the main lounge of the Eagle's Nest. He must have fallen asleep here, but that was quite an odd thing to do when there was so much activity around him. The first person Vincent saw was a man wearing a brown SA suit similar to Hoss and Westmar's uniforms. He had light brown hair, that almost looked blond at first glance, and brown eyes. He stood there in front of Vincent with one hand holding a glass of beer and a friendly smile on his face. His name was Oswin Conrad. Oswin was the Minister of State Media. Whenever the Fuhrer was about to sign off on a new alliance or do anything at all, Conrad was the man he went to when he needed promotional work. Conrad controlled all forms of Germany's media and news. Whether it be movies, television, books, or newspapers, they would never be published of Conrad's department did not give permission for it.<p>

"_Proxy_," Conrad greeted as yet another man walked up to him. This man was wearing an identical SA uniform. He had black hair and brown eyes. He also had a minor mustache on his face. His name was Dietrich Bormann, Deputy Fuhrer of the People's Reich.

Bormann was the manager of the governmental body of the Reichstag. He was technically number two to the Fuhrer even if Heinrich Welinch was often considered Hoss's right hand man. Dietrich was known ensuring the senior staff as well as the other members of parliament were doing their jobs correctly, and that they were obeying the every last request of their Fuhrer. In a way, he was similar to the position of a vice president. However, there were various differences between those two positions.

"Uh," Vincent hesitated nervously. He always became very on edge when he was forced to speak with the men of the Reichstag when Re-L was not around. Although, he had no problems speaking with Westmar since the Sturmführer was so much more approachable than anyone else in the Reichstag. "Hello Mr. Bormann, Mr. Conrad. Uh... can I help you."

Conrad and Bormann both smirked to each other and looked back to Vincent. "Say, Proxy," Conrad began and pointed to the pendant on Vincent's neck. "What is that thing on your neck? We've been seeing more and more of those lately. Is it some sort of dog tag or identification symbol you creatures use?"

Vincent looked down and let out a quiet sigh. He most certainly did not enjoy being referred to as a creature but he is _technically_ a creature. The only two people who did not call him by the term 'Proxy' or 'creature' other than Re-L, Kristeva, and Pino would be Westmar and Hoss. Of course, there was one more person who called Vincent by his actual name. There was one more man who considered Vincent to be no different than a human. That man was infamously named Rofocale. The same man who could bring the dead back to life. The man who fought off the entire world for nearly two decades before he was finally put down by Germany and her allies. Now, everyone else seemed to either have forgotten his name a long time ago, or they simply did not think he deserved the name of a human. Regardless of this, Vincent could not complain. They were just as polite to him as they would be to the most Aryan looking German in all of the Reich. Vincent was at least happy that the more radical senior officials such as Conrad and Welinch were not constantly looking for ways to have him shot for whatever reason they could come up with.

"Oh, someone gave this to me," Vincent informed. "It isn't actually mine. They just told me to hold onto it for them."

"I see," Conrad smiled and gave a wink to Vincent. "Well, are you at least enjoying yourself? You look so depressed over here all by yourself." Dietrich nodded, signaling that he agreed with Germany's propaganda minister.

"Yes," Vincent nodded. "Uh... very much so."

Before Vincent could say anything more about the fun time he was having at the Eagle's Nest, he was interrupted as a hand grasped his shoulder. Vincent turned around on impulse and immediately spotted a man in an all gray uniform holding a glass of wine. The man's gray tunic was decorated with a variety of familiar medals. Vincent looked up to see who this man was. He wore a gray visor cap on his head with a silver seal stamped on it. That seal depicted a German eagle carrying an iron cross in one of its talons, while its other talon was outstretched as if it were about to grab something else. This was the national insignia of the Reich. The man wearing this sacred symbol was none other than the one and only Generaloberst of the Wehrmacht. His name was Ernest Frank, and he was the man responsible for the entire Wehrmacht. He had brown eyes, black hair, and a friendly expression on his face.

Vincent took the wine glass that Ernest was offering and gave him a thankful nod. "I figured you were thirsty," Ernst informed, he would have guessed correctly. The party then continued with everyone showing of their more human side. This would be one of those rare moments in which the men in charge of the Reich would be able to cast aside their responsibilities for a short time to have as much fun as possible before they had to return home.

Soon, they would leave Vincent to go and speak with more interesting people. It was only when Vincent was alone in which he felt the most secure. To everyone else, the Rofocaleon Conflict was now nothing more than a subject for the history books, but to Vincent it still waged on. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old clip of eight rifle rounds. Vincent smiled and almost snickered to himself. When the Germans and Japanese forces were at Rofocale's doorstep, the man sent him out to fight with nothing more than this very clip of ammunition because there were not enough rifles to go around.

This little magazine was the second artifact he held close to his heart. The first would be the pendant around his neck and now, he had a magazine from the Rofocaleon Conflict. Neither of these two things would he ever leave behind. Both items of which he always kept on his person. These were also the only two things he would never give to Re-L. She has asked him to hand over his pendant several times, and while he would do almost anything for her, he could not do such a thing. He has not even shown her the magazine. Knowing her and her new found radical nature in the name of German nationalism, she would probably destroy the magazine. As a result, Vincent kept the artifact his little secret. Every time he looked to this magazine, he could hear Rofocale's voice saying something, but he could never figure out what it was. Every time he felt the unused bullets, he could hear the loud shouts and explosions from his time on the front lines when the Germans and Japanese forces were overwhelming Namir.

There was however, one other thing that would prove to be a much more valuable artifact from the Rofocaleon era but that item was long gone by now. Just when Vincent was about to touch the tips of the bullets he never had a chance of firing, a certain woman in an SS outfit walked up to him and took a seat on the couch. Vincent immediately tucked the precious item back in his pocket, not trusting even trusting Re-L to see it for a split second.

"Hi Re-L," Vincent sighed after safely tucking the clip of rounds away in his pocket before Re-L even had the chance to look over to him.

"What are you up to over here," Re-L asked flatly as she laid her back against the supporting cushions of the sofa and looked up to the ceiling.

"Um... nothing," Vincent sighed.

Re-L opened one eye just to see what Vincent was doing but quickly shut it when she noticed that he was not doing much of anything. "Well, I hope you're readjusting to your new home," Re-L stated.

"Well, Mr. Westmar has been very helpful," Vincent informed.

"That's good to hear," Re-L replied. She sounded as if she was almost about to fall asleep which would come as no surprise to Vincent seeing as how she was very active all day. "Anyway, other than just to visit with you for awhile, I actually did come over here to ask you something."

"To ask me something," Vincent asked and abruptly blushed. Re-L glanced to Vincent once more and noticed his red face. She immediately rolled her eyes at his misunderstanding.

"Ugh, calm down, nothing like that," she sighed.

"Oh," Vincent stated and looked down to his feet in disappointment.

"I was actually going to ask you about that tape you left for me back in the ruins of Romdeau," Re-L informed. As she continued speaking, Vincent instantly replaced his look of disappointment with a look of confusion. "You remember? The one you wanted me to find when you left the Reich to go and be with those freaks in Ophelia."

Vincent looked to Re-L in astonishment. "What on earth are you talking about," Vincent questioned which caused Re-L to quickly wake out of her sleepy daze to give Vincent an equally confused look. "I didn't leave any disk for you in Romdeau. I didn't even go through Romdeau on my way to Ophelia. I was nowhere near that old place."

"Then who the hell left me that damn disk," Re-L asked in an almost rhetorical manner. Vincent shrugged his shoulders at her which caused Re-L to turn and look over her shoulder.

"Hans," she called out. "Hans! Could you come over here for a minute?" Surprisingly, Re-L had actually began calling Westmar by his first name. She only did this with several people. She had grown close enough with Westmar and Schrude to call both of them by their informal names. However, even Vincent sometimes called Westmar by his first name seeing as how Hans was so friendly to begin with.

Westmar quickly walked up and placed his hands on the back of the sofa. "What's up," he questioned.

"Hey Hans," Re-L began. "Have you looked at that disk I took from Romdeau. I was talking to Vincent about it but he says he's never seen the thing."

Westmar adopted an expression which was the exact same as the one both Re-L and Vincent had on their faces. "Really," he inquired and looked towards Vincent who in turn shook his head. "That's crazy. No, I haven't looked at it. To be honest, Re-L, I actually forgot the old thing was on my computer. Remind me to get it for you when we return home."

"Alright, thanks Hans," Re-L remarked. Westmar would have walked away had Pino not have jumped on the couch right next to Re-L which caused the woman in black to nearly jump out of her skin.

"_Thanks Hans_," Pino stated cheerfully as if she were trying to mimic Re-L.

Westmar smiled and playfully messed up Pino's purple hair. "And what are you doing Pino," Westmar questioned.

"I'm standing guard," Pino informed and abruptly began goose stepping right across Re-L's lap and towards Vincent.

Hans snickered at the comment while Re-L gritted her teeth in annoyance. "Really," Westmar asked. "And who gave you those orders?"

Pino stopped her marching in between Vincent and Re-L. She then turned and pointed towards the other side of the room. "Mr. Hoss," Pino exclaimed. "Mr. Hoss told me to."

Everyone turned to see Fuhrer Hoss smiling at Pino in the background. Heinrich was standing behind the Fuhrer with a more melancholy expression.

"My Fuhrer," Hans questioned in a comedic manner. "What is this new strategy you're using."

"Well, you see Westmar," Anton explained. "When those crazy Russians try to come across our borders, we're gonna send Pino to go and deal with them."

"Yeah, send Pino," the little AutoReiv exclaimed.

"If you do that," Kristeva interjected from the other side of the room. "Then you will not have any use for the military."

"She has a point," Conrad added with a chuckle.

Soon, everyone would be involved in this comical discussion about how the Fuhrer was going to send Pino to defeat the Russians. Kantor even gave statistical probability for the survival of the Socialist Republic after Pino was done decimating their armed forces. This would be one of many odd discussions that would take place over the next two weeks and in a strange way, would mark the beginning of a well deserved vacation from all of the ugly international incidents that now plague the world around this solitary mountain.

* * *

><p><em>(Location: Vienna, Austrian Empire)<em>

The Austrian Empire was the most feared nation in the entire world. They were known for having unbeatable soldiers, and leaders with hearts of steel. It was a fearless nation that loomed on every map of Europe like a shadow ready to consume all around it. However, to say the Austrians were the only imperial monsters in the world would be a blatant lie. Austria was now even more feared because the nation was a proud member of the newly formed Axis Powers.

The Axis consisted of the People's Reich, Austria, Imperial Japan, and the more recent addition was the Kingdom of Italy, or as it was more widely known, _Black Italy_. At one point, Austria was all by her lonesome self. Then she was called to arms during the revolution in New Berlin and out of that conflict came her first alley, Germany. From their the other nations would follow suit. However, there was something else Germany and Austria had in common other than their cultures, alliances, ethnic majority, and political creeds. The two nations both welcomed survivors of Romdeau. While Fuhrer Hoss took Re-L, Vincent, Pino, and Kristeva in as if they were his long lost children, the Kaiser of Austria, Kurt Nestroy hired Daedalus Yumeno as a leading figure in medical research at the University of Vienna.

It was only by sheer luck that Daedalus was even still alive. However, the weirdest part about him was not that he survived being crushed by a huge piece of concrete, but that he survived for God knows how long at the hands of Rofocale who had claimed the territory of Romdeau for himself after it collapsed.

Daedalus was sitting in his personal laboratory. He was fiddling with a scalpel when he accidentally cut himself on the right index finger with it. He naturally dropped the scalpel on the floor and removed the white glove on his hand to inspect the wound. Daedalus quickly widened his eyes to see a black goop oozing out of his cut where blood should be. It was as if all of his blood had turned to the color of charcoal for some enigmatic reason. Daedalus held his finger up to the light to make sure his eyes were not playing a trick on him, but sure enough, they were not.

"What the hell?"


	2. Newcomers

"_Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man." ~Friedrich Nietzsche_

**Interval II- Newcomers**

_(Location: Bavaria, People's Reich 'Territory')_

_(Date: December 12__th__, 304AI)_

It was clear that there was a rather entertaining side to the off duty Fuhrer. In fact, one could say this about the entire senior staff. It was here where they were most able to relax. Having the responsibility of the entire globe lifted off their shoulders for a temporary time was definitely required for any world leader and his companions. Without vacations such as this, the Fuhrer and probably the entire Reichstag would come down with a horrific case of encephalopathy.

It has temporarily stopped snowing in the Bavarian Alps, but the mountains and Eagle's Nest were still covered in the frozen rain. On the balcony, most of the staff members were talking amongst themselves or watching Pino play in the snow while Kristeva desperately tried to get control of the little mechanical child. Fuhrer Hoss was standing off in a corner of the balcony with Kantor and Welinch. While they were telling jokes to one another, Westmar, Reginald, and Frank were huddled together as they watched Pino. The the other officials were standing off in the background somewhere. The only two people who were not out on the balcony would be Vincent and Re-L.

Vincent could not be out in the sun which was now high in the sky. Instead, he sat in the main lounge of the Eagle's Nest and watched everyone have their fun in the sun without him. He was sitting on the edge of one of the sofas in the lounge while Re-L sat on the other side of the couch with a tablet in her hand. It was too cold for her liking out there which is why she was inside silently reading up on the few documents she had which contained traces of the mysterious ODESSA. Although, that was not the only thing she was doing.

Re-L also had an odd looking bag in her lap as well. She abruptly reached into the bag and pulled out a bright orange pepper of some sorts. She then calmly bit it off the stem and began chewing, much to Vincent's amazement. Re-L's cheeks were practically blood red but she was not reacting in any way. She was eating these peppers as if they were popcorn yet she was perfectly unfazed. However, Vincent could easily see she was sweating as well as blushing.

"Um, Re-L," Vincent asked with growing concern. "Are you sure you should be eating those. They look intimidating."

"Oh, they're very painful," Re-L confirmed but surprisingly, she ate another pepper and resumed her reading.

Vincent lifted his hand towards her in an attempt to say something else, but he was interrupted as the back door to the balcony opened up and shut once again. Vincent and Re-L looked up to see Oswin Conrad walking into the room as he removed his winter coat. "Ugh," Conrad sighed and walked over to a rack to hang up his coat. "It's crazy cold out there. So what are you two losers doing in here all by yourselves?"

"Hey," Vincent whined. "That isn't very nice."

"Actually," Re-L interjected as she picked another pepper out of her bag. "Vincent is the real loser. He was sitting in her alone sulking for the last twenty minutes so I came in here to get some work done."

"Work," Conrad questioned with a lifted eyebrow. "I thought we were suppose to be on vacation. Wait a minute, did Frank tell you to do this?" The only reason Conrad asked this in such a suspicious manner is because Ernest Frank was in many ways the Reichstag's killjoy. No matter what was happening, the only thing on this man's mind was work. He usually harassed the Fuhrer about not signing papers on time or not reading over documents. As a result, the Fuhrer grew to hate Frank and would often go out of his way just to screw with the man.

Re-L looked up from her tablet and nodded to Conrad. "Yes," she sighed. "He says that somebody has to keep everything in order if the Fuhrer is going to goof around for the next few weeks."

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," Conrad informed. "That man is relentless. He doesn't understand what the world 'vacation' means does he?"

"What's wrong with the Generaloberst," asked Vincent.

"Oh right," Re-L reminded and patted Vincent on the shoulder. "He hasn't been here as long as I have. Uh Vincent, around here Frank is known as that one guy who nags like a middle aged house wife."

Vincent looked out the window to see if he could spot the Generaloberst doing anything that might correlate with Re-L's accusations, but there was nothing of the sorts. Ernest seemed to be having a pretty good time with Reginald at the moment. "That's weird, I never noticed," said Vincent. Re-L would have informed him of something else, but Conrad interrupted her as he abruptly walked up to the back door and threw it open.

"My Reichsführer," he called out which naturally caused Heinrich and everyone else to turn to him. "Do you know that Frank has been bossing your subordinate around?"

Heinrich let out a long sigh and turned to face Ernest. "Leave Re-L alone," he stated with only a half interested tone. "If you want her to do something then follow SS military protocol and _do it yourself_."

As Heinrich and Ernest began arguing in the way the usually did, Conrad abruptly remembered something. He turned back and pointed to Re-L. "Hey, what time is it?"

Re-L looked down to the right hand bottom corner of the screen on her little tablet where a digital clock was visible. "It's fifteen minutes past ten," Re-L informed.

"Welinch," Conrad called out once more, immediately breaking up the argument between the two military leaders. "It's almost eleven! Didn't you say you were inviting a guest who was suppose to be here by now?"

Heinrich looked back towards Oswin while everyone else on the balcony now gave their full attention to the two. "Ah, check outside," Heinrich called back. "I think I heard a car door shut just a little while ago."

Vincent was watching all of this with a curious expression. He then leaned towards Re-L since if anyone would know about something Heinrich was up to, it would be her. "Hey, what's Mr. Conrad talking about?"

Re-L let out a light sigh and placed her tablet in her lap. "We've been looking for someone to replace General Röfter, and Heinrich thinks he's found the perfect man to take charge of Röfter's army divisions. I met him a month ago and I don't like him."

"Why not?"

"How should I put this," Re-L pondered but quickly found the word she was looking for which she believed to describe this mystery person very well. "He's kind of... _creepy_."

Vincent gave Re-L a more teasing smile. "Oh, is that all? I'm sure he's as nice as everyone else here."

"Wrong, Proxy," Conrad interjected just when Heinrich walked into the room. Vincent and Re-L turned to him out of curiosity. "Re-L and I met him on that same day and let me tell you, I don't know how he behaved around her but he was a freaking ass to me."

"Yeah," Re-L nodded. "I do remember some pretty passive aggressive comments he made to me when Mr. Welinch wasn't listening."

"I don't think he's that bad," Heinrich interrupted.

"Of course you don't," Re-L argued. "He obviously wasn't awkward when you were around, but every time you turned your back he either said something that was really passive aggressive or he acted kind of off in some weird way."

"You're just making things up now," Heinrich said with a dismissive tone and walked away.

Re-L rolled her eyes as soon as he looked away from her which caused Conrad to chuckle silently. Re-L then stood up, grabbing her bag of peppers and the tablet which contained her current findings on ODESSA, which was not very much at all. "Come on, Vincent," Re-L ordered flatly.

"Uh, where are we going?"

"My room," Re-L informed. "I don't want to be around that man and I don't think you'll like him either."

* * *

><p>Not but fifteen minutes later was a black car driving up the newly constructed road which led from a small domed city to the Bavarian Alps and the Eagle's Nest. There were two small German flags attached to the hood of the car. Inside this fancy vehicle was a young man no older than the age of 23 who was sitting in the back of the car while an SS guard drove and another armed guard sat in the passenger's seat.<p>

This young man looked out his window while he rested his chin on his right hand. He had a serene smile permanently plastered on his face, and a very calm look in his honey colored eyes. He wore a pair of rectangular glasses over his eyes. His clothing consisted of the standard black SS outfit with twelve shiny medals on his chest. He also wore a pair of white gloves to go along with his uniform. His name was Arthur von Ceizel.

Ceizel began his life in the Austrian city of Ceizel, hence the name, which exists in what is now labeled Lower Austria. He was born in the dome's WombSys just before it was destroyed. The WombSys was an abandoned system in Austria now. The Kaiser in power before Nestroy came along decided to return to the natural form of human reproduction which was the direction most of the Axis Nations were going at this point except for Germany. Ceizel was a soldier from the very beginning of his life and it would probably end in such a field of work as well. His father was a field officer in the Austrian army and even served during the liberation of New Berlin from its infamous ruler Weimar.

Naturally, Ceizel took an interest into the people his father was fighting for, the Germans. During his childhood, he observed the Germans and quickly deemed them the true Deutschen people. He spent his adolescent years learning more and more about the war between the Serbian Confederation which was an old long lost empire which fell at the hands of the Austrians. This heroic conflict captivated his young imagination. Once he was seventeen his father tried to get him to join the 'Black Army' but Ceizel would have none of it. Instead, the young lad would leave and gain citizenship in the People's Reich where he became an SS grunt. After doing insane tasks in both the war for reunification and the Rofocaleon Conflict, Ceizel climbed up the ranks and was now about to be taking the place of one of the most important Generals in Germany. Naturally, his ego had grown over time along with his status.

Soon, his car came to a halt just in front of the large entrance to the luxurious Eagle's Nest. Ceizel remained seated until the SS guardsman in the passenger's seat got out of the car and walked around to the back where he pulled open Ceizel's door. The newly appointed SS general stepped out of the car and gave a light salute before he headed up to the main entrance of the Eagle's Nest which was guarded by two SS-men, armed with rifles. Ceizel stopped and saluted.

"Hail Hoss," he stated in a casual tone. The two guardsmen saluted him as well before the three lowered their right hands. "I am here because I was invited by the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Welinch. He asked that I come out for the day to meet with the senior officials. My name is Senior Captain Arthur von Ceizel of the 2nd Grenadier Division."

"Go on in," the guard on the right replied and turned to open the dual doors which marked the only entrance to the classy building.

Ceizel then entered the building. He walked through the luxurious entrance hall and followed the sound of voices. He could hear the senior members speaking amongst themselves in the main room. They were currently heading inside from the balcony to meet Heinrich's little prodigy. Indeed, Ceizel was a prodigy in the same way Daedalus, but Ceizel did not specialize in medicine. He specialized in military strategy, and he clearly prided himself in such a skill. The cocky yet serene smile on his face could indicate such an ego.

Ceizel came to a stop to a pair of doors in the back. He could hear the voices from behind the wall and assumed that they were in this area of the Eagle's Nest. Ceizel quietly and in a very ghostly manner, pushed the doors open. They produced a small creak but nobody could hear this over the sound of their own voices. He would have creeped up on Heinrich who currently had his back turned from the door just as everyone else did., but Ceizel caught a whiff of something. He actually smelled Vincent who was walking up from behind. He turned around ever so slowly with his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants. That out of place grin and the creepy look in Ceizel's eyes caused Vincent to stop in his tracks.

"Um, hello," the man in the red outfit said nervously. "My name is Vincent. I know someone new is suppose to show up, would you be him?"

"You tell me," Ceizel said slyly. "I don't recall the Reichsführer telling me one of you _monsters_ would be present amongst the senior officials. Do you even know who these people are? Do you know who's oxygen you waste with your fowl breathing?"

"Uh... how did you know I was a Proxy," Vincent asked in confusion. He was not as offended, it would only be a matter of time before someone would come along and call Vincent and his friends out for not being true Germans, but he was curious as to how this stranger knew he was a Proxy right off the bat.

Ceizel's awkward grin grew as if he were about to say something else but a voice from behind interrupted him. "There is," Heinrich's familiar and welcoming voice called out. "Senior Captain Arthur von Ceizel. He's the man I've been telling you about, my Fuhrer! Well stop playing with Vincent and come in here!"

Arthur waved goodbye to Vincent before he calmly walked away. He entered the main lobby and looked around to see everyone now staring at him. Ceizel put on a more friendly smile which directly contradicted the horrifying grin which he put on for Vincent. Anton Hoss was standing off in the back, watching every step Ceizel took. Hoss always analyzed people in great detail before he met with them for the first time. As soon as he laid eyes on Ceizel, Hoss felt uneasy. It was as if he were looking at Pino after she put on Re-L's makeup. Pino would always sit on the wrong side of the uncanny valley when she did such a thing, or at least in Hoss's opinion, but now this man Ceizel was giving off that same vibe. Hoss lifted an eyebrow at the mysterious SS-man as he went around shaking the hands of the senior officials.

* * *

><p><em>(Location: Rome, Kingdom of Italy)<em>

The Kingdom of Italy was first founded in 1861AD. It was the first time in history in which Italia was unified as an independent state. Before the time of her unification, she was divided into a plethora of different monarchies and provinces. There were the Papal States, the Confederation of Central Italy, and the Republic of Venice just to name a small but significant few.

Italy was scarred with occupations from Napoleon's France, and multiple Italian revolutions which all had the same quest to unify the region. However, Italy was not a world power until Benito Mussolini came along in the early twentieth century and changed up the government in accordance to the final revolution in Italy up until this very year. He reconstructed the Italian armed forces and set out on a quest to reclaim all of Italy's lost territories in Africa and Europe. Mussolini would hold these territories for some time until the dreadful end of World War Two. Or rather, the temporary ceasefire which would pause the conflict up until now. It truly never ended, the old Axis nations did not surrender, they simply worked out a truce.

It took Italians exactly 5,261 years to return to their former glory with the help of a quite unprecedented revolutionary by the name of Adrian Marris. He had black hair, brown eyes, and wore a black military uniform which was of course covered in medals. The Duce of Italy was currently sitting in the main park of Rome where a large crowd of his personal honor guard surrounded him. However, the Italians were not the only faction in the capital city of Rome. A handful of high ranking Austria's 'Black Knights' were also present in the park. They combined with the Italians, kept watch over their beloved leaders.

The Duce was sitting on a wooden bench while he laughed and chatted away with the Kaiser of the Austrian Empire, Kurt Nestroy. The Kaiser wore a formal black suit as well, but it was not a military uniform. The Kaiser usually wore a more casual suit when he met with his fellow Axis leaders to give them a feeling of friendship rather than just a formal meet. Nestroy had gray hair and green eyes which were covered by a pair of glasses.

"Well, I take it Fuhrer Hoss has already visited you," asked Nestroy.

"Oh yes," Marris nodded. "The Fuhrer came by last month to take a tour of the city. I gave him and his senior staff the same tour I give you now. We then had lunch and attended a ceremony the Reichsführer set up for me. It was sort of a... welcome to the alliance bit which was put on by SS-men. Yes, we had a merry old time."

"I'm glad to hear you are getting along with everyone else," Nestroy replied with a smile.

"Emperor Nakano will also be coming by sometime next month," Marris informed. Nestroy tilted his head with interest as Marris continued. "I spoke with him recently and invited him to come to Rome and enjoy the luxuries of my country. He told me he would be honored to come and visit my beautiful Italy."

"That's very good to hear," Nestroy complemented. "Now, I have spoken to the Fuhrer before he went on his vacation to his claimed territory in the Alps. He and I have agreed along with the Emperor, that instead of hosting the next Annual Meet in Tokyo, we would like for you to host it here in Rome. It will be a final initiation into the Axis Powers."

Marris smiled and looked down to the rubber army boots he always wore. "I would be honored to host the next Annual Meet. Absolutely _honored_."

* * *

><p><em>(Location: Bavaria, People's Reich 'Territory')<em>

Vincent and Re-L were still held up in the bedroom Re-L was occupying for the remainder of the visit. Vincent only left just to meet Ceizel but he quickly returned to Re-L's bedroom after realizing that Re-l and Conrad were correct in their judgments of Ceizel. He was creepy, and not very polite to Vincent. The Proxy sat in a chair on one side of the room while he threw a little rubber ball to the wall in front of him. The ball then bounced off the wall and landed in his hand where he repeated the process all over again. Re-L on the other hand was sitting in her bed with her tablet in her lap. She glanced up from the bright blue screen to see what Vincent was up too.

"So Vincent," Re-L began casually as her eyes returned to the screen. "This might be an out of the blue question, but I've been meaning to ask you this for awhile. Why did you leave Germany? Did Rofocale say something to you that day when he came to negotiate peace terms with our Fuhrer? Was it something that I did?"

"No," Vincent sighed. He did not seem to react to much even though Re-L was now giving him a more curious gaze. "Nothing like that. He did invite me but I left for my own reasons. You really shouldn't worry about it. I won't leave again since you like it here so much, but I do want to leave not only Germany, but the entire Axis alliance."

"Why the hell would you want to do that," Re-L asked in a surprisingly calm tone but she did throw her tablet out of her lap in astonishment. "We have such a great life here. The Fuhrer was the only one who was willing to take us in after the Romans killed off everyone else..."

"I know," Vincent stated in a flat tone, not so much as making eye contact with Re-L. "I didn't say I don't appreciate all they've done for us. The reason I want to leave is because I don't want to end up destroying the Reich just like I destroyed Romdeau and Mosk. Everywhere I go, death finds me. I'd like to leave before it follows me here too."

Re-L was quite shocked by the unexpected statement. "Vincent," she questioned but quickly silenced herself as she heard a knock at the door. "Come in," Re-L called out without taking her eyes off of the Proxy sitting next to her. The door then opened up, allowing Westmar and Bormann to enter the room with an expression of annoyance written on both of their faces.

"You and Conrad were right about Ceizel," the Deputy Fuhrer groaned as he shut the door behind Westmar. "That man is a complete dick. Isn't he Westmar."

"I'm not a fan," Hans replied as he took a seat at the foot of Re-L's bed while Bormann simply stood there with in front of him with his arms crossed. "He's creepy and covertly rude. I lost count of how many condescending comments he made about my SA-men."

"We tried to tell you," Re-L nagged with a roll of her eyes. "You should have just stayed back here with us. Please tell me that he isn't staying for the remainder of the vacation with us. I don't wanna have to stay held up in here for the next two weeks."

Westmar let out a relieved sigh and gave Re-L a reassuring smile. "He's about to leave now, thankfully."

"Wow Mr. Westmar," Vincent said in a surprised tone of voice. "You like everyone. This is the first time I've seen you say something so negative about another person."

Hans snickered at the remark and looked up to the ceiling. "I try to like everyone, Vincent. But it's an impossible task when you have men like him running around."

"I agree," Bormann interjected. "That man is intolerable. I'm glad he's only being sworn in as a general. At least that way we don't have to see him every day. So, just be thankful for that if nothing else."

"That's true," Re-L agreed. "Oh well. And I'm guessing you two have been the only ones to have escaped from the lounge?"

"Yeah," Bormann replied with a laugh. "Conrad was trying to come back here all day but every time he attempted to excuse himself, the Fuhrer gave him the evil eye and he would just sit down quietly. It was pretty funny. The only reason I was able to leave was because I said I had to come give you something and I was able to save Westmar in the process."

"Mr. Bormann," Re-L stated cockily. "In all of that time, I would have found over a hundred different reasons to duck out of that little meeting."

"That's what Conrad kept doing," Westmar insisted. "He found excuse after excuse but nobody can succeed when the Fuhrer gives you his evil, death stare. Ugh, I swear it's like he looks into my very soul every time he does that."

Re-L would have said something in reply, but everyone silenced themselves as they listened to the sounds of the other senior officials bidding Ceizel goodbye. They listened quietly as they heard the front door open and shut. "I think the coast is clear," Re-L murmured.

"Alright, let's get back out there," said Bormann. "I'd like to hear what the Fuhrer thinks of this prodigy of Heinrich's."

"Bormann! Re-L! Vincent! Get in here," the Fuhrer's voice abruptly called out from beyond the door. Everyone abruptly stood up except for Bormann who was already standing. They wasted no time contemplating what the Fuhrer wanted with them and simply rushed out of Re-L's room and back into the main lounge.

Once the four entered the lounge they were immediately greeted by Pino and Kristeva who were standing near the door. "Vince," Pino exclaimed and ran up to him.

"Hi Pino," Vincent smiled. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah! But Kristeva is making me take a break," Pino sneered and glared up to the AutoReiv who acted more like a stern mother than an entourage at this point.

"You guys get in here," Heinrich called out from behind. The group turned to see everyone sitting around their Fuhrer who took his seat in a recliner while Heinrich stood next to him.

With that, Re-L, Vincent, Hans, and Dietrich took their seats at different points around the room while Pino and Kristeva remained in the background. Hoss had a more serious expression on his face while the other senior officials looked to be more annoyed than anything. It would appear that nobody but Heinrich enjoyed Ceizel's company. Then again, this was probably because Heinrich was the one person other than Hoss who Ceizel was respectful to.

"What do you guys think about Ceizel," Heinrich suddenly interrupted before Hoss could even begin saying what was on his mind.

"I hated him," Kantor interjected. "He literally blew me off when you were introducing us! Mrs. Hoss was smart for hiding herself in the kitchen with the other wives. Hell, Re-L and the Proxy had the right idea by locking themselves up in the back. They probably were more productive doing nothing than we were listening to that asshole!" Kantor then realized that not only was Re-L present in the room, but Pino as well. "Uh, sorry for the language," Albert disclaimed.

"Kantor, you're just mean," Heinrich retorted with irritation. The two would have began arguing about the situation but thankfully the Fuhrer interrupted them.

"_Enough_," Hoss stated with agitation which caused everyone to jump. The Fuhrer almost never raised his voice but when he did, everyone kept their mouth shut. "That's not important. I'm glad you invited the kid out for the day, Heinrich, but I don't like him either." Just when Heinrich lifted his index finger and gasped to say something, Anton continued with his rant just to keep him quiet. "However, there is an important announcement I have to make. I almost forgot about it until Heinrich invited that young man. I would like to announce that the Reichstag will be adding on an additional office and a new senior official has been selected to run it."

The group gasped in shock but this did not stop Anton from continuing. "As you all know, Germany doesn't really have a navy."

"Uh, I thought we did have a navy," Vincent said nervously. He was always very shy when talking to Anton, but there was no reason for him to be so fearful when Anton often went out of his way to answer whatever question he may have.

"We have a couple of boats that sit on the coast of the Black Sea. It's not really a navy. As a result, I have decided that it is high time to invest in rebuilding the Kriegsmarine and we will set out to dominate the waters."

"Wait," Heinrich interjected. "Who's going to lead the navy? Who's even going to rebuild it. None of us know the first thing about ocean warfare."

"That is why, I have decided to add an additional member to my parliament," Hoss replied. "His name is Otto Vormich. I have spoken with him several times and I feel confident that he will be the perfect man to build the Kriegsmarine, and even lead us to ocean superiority. He has studied naval warfare all his life, and unlike Heinrich's newly appointed general, Vormich is a very polite and well behaved man. As soon as we return to New Berlin, Mr. Vormich will be sworn in under my authority and he will become our _Großadmiral_ of the future Kriegsmarine."

"I have question," Re-L announced. Hoss leaned back in his seat and gestured for Re-L to speak freely. "Um. Why exactly do you have an interest in a navy all of a sudden. I mean, Italy and Japan both have very strong navies. Do we really need our own?"

"Yes," Hoss nodded. "Here comes the next part of my announcement. Now, Re-L, you of all people should know that the former SPQR did not like foreigners. Anyway, after Romdeau collapsed and the survivors tried to flee to the SPQR but they were exterminated. Keep in mind that I don't know how this happened but," Hoss paused for a moment and decided to approach this next announcement in a different way. "Does you and Vincent already know about the whole Project Boomerang thing that happened long before our time?"

Re-L nodded and allowed Hoss to continue.

"Well, Mr. Vormich believes that he has actually located it."

"Huh," Ernest questioned in utter astonishment. "Really!? Wait, then what does that have to do with the SPQR and building up a navy?"

"Because," Hoss sighed. "We believe the Boomerang has crashed on the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. The only explanation we have for it crashing is that those space monkeys must have tried to land in the SPQR and the Romans went crazy and shot them down. They must have landed on Crete."

"That's impossible," Re-L argued and stood up. "How the hell do you even make that leap!? We're not talking about the original SPQR! Italy is way the hell north now! How do you get shot down in northern Europe but land in freaking Greece!?"

"It's the only theory we have at the moment. Look, if there's one thing the SPQR did that I can agree with, it's that they shot down those bastards who destroyed our planet and left us for dead. Now, we're going in to salvage the parts from the ship and use them to begin research on space exploration. Therefore, the Kriegsmarine will be reconstructed and we will secretly search for the long lost ship. When we find it, we'll take what we need and destroy the rest. Agreed?"

"Yes sir," everyone stated in unity. Re-L was probably the most interested in the idea of searching through the Boomerang. Ever since she began researching ODESSA, she kept being linked back to that age old ship. Now that it had returned, she could finally figure out why ODESSA and the ship are so closely correlated.


	3. At Home

_Note: Okay, to __Neo Europe__ readers. I was doing some research awhile back when I was writing about the Axis liberation of Rofocale's occupied territories. I was watching a lot of old Wehrmacht recorded footage during World War II and I literally saw a tank be blasted into the air. It flew completely off the ground, flipped upside down, and fell back to the earth. That actually happened! From what I can tell, it was an Allied tank, probably French which would explain a lot already. However, I can't figure out what weapon they used to throw that tank like a child's toy. I saw that and I immediately thought, that has to be in my story at some point. Here's the problem, I have not been able to figure out how that even went down. I don't know if it was an artillery gun(it probably was artillery), a bomb, or some anti-tank gun(doubtful). Anyway, if anyone knows what I'm talking about or finds that footage on YouTube and you know what gun did that then please let me know. I'd love to base a weapon in this story off of it._

_Now, for the other problem. I really did not want to announce this because it was suppose to be a surprise, but I doubt anyone would have actually realized what it was because it's such an obscure thing that happened in history, but the Iron Man Buddhist statue which was discovered by a German expedition team in Tibet. That relic is involved in a minor subplot of this story. The only thing I want to know, but it isn't required, is where the statue is right now. I know, nobody actually knows where it originally came from but that's not what I would like to know in the first place. I want to know where it is right now as you read this. I tried tracking this thing down but I could only follow its location up to a few years back. Apparently, some random guy obtained it and gave it to a university who researched it and verified what the statue made out of and how old it is. Unfortunately, after the analysis was complete, they sent it back to the owner who then sold the bloody thing in a private auction. I have yet to find any recent articles on the statue, it's lost in oblivion now but if you happen to know where it is at the moment then let me know that as well but it isn't that big of a deal. I can work around the locations. But seriously, how do we lose a priceless statue which literally came from space!? We may never hear about the Iron Man again which is extremely irritating. Ugh, anyway, enjoy the chapter._

* * *

><p>"<em>An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts." ~Otto von Bismarck<em>

**Interval III- At Home**

_(Location: Neutral Zone)_

_(Date: January 15th, 1AI)_

Long before the rise of nation states, and the birth of people like Fuhrer Hoss, an Aryan-esque Proxy by the name of Marina was sitting in the middle of a cloud covered wasteland. This would be the sight of the soon world renowned city of New Berlin. It would be the birth place of a new German Reich. Marina sat there on a rock as she twirled her pendant around on her index finger. One notable thing about the pendant was that it looked nothing like the average necklace of Proxy. Instead of the usual pattern, Marina's pendant was actually shaped in the form of a swastika which was tilted on its axis.

She sat on a large rock with a bored expression on her face. Marina abruptly stopped twirling her pendant and calmly placed it back around her neck before she lifted the necklace up ever so slightly and slid it underneath her shirt to keep stray eyes from seeing it for whatever reason. "I suppose I could just build Berlin here," she told herself subconsciously. "But when should I start recreating the Fuhrer and his comrades? I can't just create this nation out of the blue. The Germans need to create it for themselves. I guess I could just throw some stupid democracy out there for them and when that begins to spiral down hill I can start working on creating the proper leaders of what will soon be the Forth Reich. Then when that faceless democracy does collapse on its own, I'm sure the Fuhrer will take control and start mechanizing the entire dome. I can only hope it will play out exactly as it does in my head but that's only one of many possibilities."

Marina rested her back against the rock and looked up to the black skies above. "One thing is for certain," she continued in the depths of thought. "I need to at least get the dome built before that those clouds clear out which means I might as well start now. Ugh, I'll get started tomorrow, I'll use today to plan out just how this is all going to work. After I build New Berlin, I can pass the time by building other Germanic domes. This is going to be a much more difficult process then what the others said it would be. Surely, I'm not the only other person with the task of setting up a nation state rather than one dumb little city. Yeah, I'll probably see more nations pop up as time goes on. I just wonder how many of them will chose to align themselves with my beautiful Reich. I also wonder how many of them will be related to former Allied nations. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure all of that out as time continues to march on."

* * *

><p><em>(Location: New Berlin, Neutral Zone)<em>

_(Date: August 4th, 250AI)_

Over two centuries would pass before New Berlin was created. It was a massive city and acted as the primary beacon of the newly formed Germany areas which ironically were not in central Europe. Instead, Marina chose eastern Europe, specifically, just above the Black Sea since it was a more strategically sound location.

At the moment, Marina was sitting at a desk in front of a computer monitor. She was in the WombSys of New Berlin, tampering with the birthing process. Usually, a person working in this place would be in charge of the process and would never actually alter it. Marina on the other hand, let herself into the WombSys with the soul goal of recreating certain people from history. There were a line of three photographs on the table to the right of the monitor. The pictures were all in black and white. The first photo was of Adolf Hitler, the second was of Joachim von Ribbentrop, and the third was of Hermann Goering.

Marina kept glancing between the monitor and the picture of Hitler constantly. She abruptly leaned back in her seat as she came to one blank spot on the document displayed on the monitor which contained detailed information on the physical and mental aspects of a single child who will be planned to be born in the WombSys. "Ugh," Marina sighed as she looked up to the ceiling above. "I'd like to just remake all of them but I know that would be a pretty stupid move. They would just end up making the same mistakes as before. I need to construct them so that they will carry out the wishes of their ancestors, but in turn, not fall into the same mistakes. I also shouldn't make them all at the same time. If they all have the same birthdays and are exactly the same age, that might get suspicious. I'll just create the Fuhrer for now and do the rest of them later. In a few years I'll do a couple more and go from there."

With that in mind, Marina continued her typing as she carefully planned out the next generation of German leaders.

* * *

><p><em>(Date: May 20th, 257)<em>

Anton Hoss was six years old when he took his first walk to the school in his neighborhood. Nothing about these early years of his youth would signify anything about the extraordinary mind that was to develop over the next few decades. That same mind which would lead a counter revolution against a mass of communists and forge a nation of nothing more than half a city out of an entire world of empires which only desired to gobble him up.

Young Anton kept walking down a busy sidewalk in the domed city of New Berlin. He wore a red shirt, tan pants, and a red backpack which contained all of the proper materials for a youthful mind to be educated. He kept walking until he slowed his stride as he finally laid eyes upon the schoolyard where other children of his age gathered in front of the depressing building.

Another young boy with brown hair and green eyes abruptly walked up from behind Anton and came to a stop just next to him. The boy turned and looked towards Anton who still had not yet noticed that he was standing there. This young boy was not just some faceless soul, but a future revolutionary just like the child he stood next to.

"Is this the place we're suppose to go," the boy questioned which caused Anton to instinctively turn towards him. Anton quickly spotted the person who was speaking to him and turned back to face the school he was just previously preparing to travel to.

Both of these two boys had equally flat expressions on their faces which appeared to be almost completely devoid of emotion. "I think so," Anton informed flatly.

"My name is Joseph Herman," the child announced.

"My name is Anton."

And just like that, Anton had made his first friend.

* * *

><p><em>(Location: Neutral Zone)<em>

Marina was walking down a broken down road in the dark world outside. She was rather far from her own city for some reason. She was in the process of doing something that she was not suppose to be doing in the first place, but none of the less, Marina in all of her wisdom decided to go ahead and do it anyway. In the background just behind a few large hills was the glowing dome of New Berlin.

This strange world outside was dead quiet. At this point in time, humanity had not begun venturing back out to reclaim their lost land. Even with the few nations that exist at this very moment which would be the Austrian Empire, Rome, Confederation of Serbian States, Imperial Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Commonwealth of Britain, this world was still a very lonely place to travel through. Of course these were not the only nations, at the moment, the American Union was newly formulated across the Atlantic, but nobody in Europe would know about them until the found themselves in a war with a certain conquer who claimed to be able to bring the dead back to life. The only other empire in the known world was simply called the 'Realm of the Lost Ones.' They were an isolated society which supposedly exists along the southern border of the second Roman Empire. They were so isolated that most of the population presumed them to be a myth, and it would not be surprising if they were correct.

Until that rather destructive period of time the wasteland would remain empty accept for the occasional mongrels who lived outside the domes. Not even the completely militaristic Austria would be mobilizing in the neutral zones until much later. The outer reaches of the nation states were also entirely devoid of people. Since all of the nations were so spread apart, nobody was genuinely worried about incursions. This meant that nobody was sending out troops to patrol the border since there was really no point in doing so. It was a waste of money which led many nations not only too keep from venturing outside other than to trade with their own domes.

The only nation that was sending a lot of military personnel into the world outside would be Tsarist Russia. The reason for this was the year in which Boris Leskov along with some of his supporters sparked an enormous civil war to overthrow the Tsar of Russia. This movement was clearly inspired by the Russian Civil War of 1917. Unfortunately for the communists, however, their little conflict was not as successful as the one some several thousand years ago.

Marina kept walking with all of this in mind. Of course, Russia was so far away, she could obviously not hear the sounds of rifles and artillery firing off in all direction. She was carrying a small bag in her right hand. She held it away from her person as if the bag contained some sort of waste which needed disposing of. After a few more moments of walking, Marina stopped dead in her tracks to see a small village with several houses made out of random junk which was lying around in this general area. There were several people walking around silently like ghosts but none of them seemed to notice her.

She quickly turned and looked to the rags which were still wrapped tightly around some strange object. The rags abruptly began moving and Marina could hear a whine coming from inside, which would indeed signify that there was an infant underneath the cloth. "Shut up," Marina sighed and abruptly opened her right hand which caused the infant child to fall to the ground. "You shouldn't even be alive," Marina sighed and placed her hands on her hips as she scolded the pile of rags. "Himmler was a traitor. He stabbed the Fuhrer in the back towards the end of the second world conflict. I was told not to recreate him, you only exist so that I may punish you. In so doing, I am punishing that man for betraying the Reich. Sit here and suffocate from exposure to the vile air for all I care."

Marina then looked up to see a few of the people from the town were already staring at her as they heard her speaking rather loudly. She smiled and looked back down to the child who was probably going to die at any moment due to her actions. "Or, if you do live, then continue to suffer here for the rest of your life with these neanderthals. Either way, as long as your not evolved with the revolution, I don't care what happens to you." With that said, Marina promptly turned back to face the group of spectators who were watching her give such a heartless speech to the infant which not only did she create through Berlin's WombSys, but was now leaving him out here to die. "His name is Heinrich," she informed before casually turning around and walking away.

That child she was leaving in the dust would grow deathly ill over the next few weeks, but would some how survive. He would grow to be one of the most influential and feared leaders in what was to become, the People's Reich. In an ironic twist of events, Marina would only have succeeded in reviving the Schutzstaffel, but not at all punishing them.

* * *

><p><em>(Location: New Berlin, Neutral Zone)<em>

_(Date: April 19th, 263)_

Ever since Hoss began his schooling, he had shown an increased interest in the history of warfare, just as every young boy does at his age. He was constantly in the library, looking at the magnificent pictures of war machines created from a lost age. Hoss was interested in everything from sword wielding cavalry to massive tank divisions. He had an odd obsession with German weaponry in particular but that might be due to the amount of German military books which had been slipped into his backpack by an unseen person who just might have a much larger goal for Anton, rather than what he truly wanted to become.

Anton was becoming more and more interested with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Learning about this war, along with the two global conflicts after it, practically shapes Hoss's entire view on the world. He was now a total nationalist which is exactly what Marina wanted of him. He was being drawn closer and closer to the topic of German reunification. Naturally, he was also very intrigued with the Pan-Germanism movement which led the charge into a second conflict with the Allies during World War II. Anton was specifically mesmerized by the details of the Eastern Front between practically all of Europe and Russia in those dark days. The concept of such an ideological war between the two great political spheres of left and right was what Hoss found to be so interesting.

Another thing Which captured Hoss's interest would be the Second Renaissance. The Second Renaissance was a name coined to describe the death of the city state after the Boomerang ship left and the dark clouds covered the skies. With the birth of the Austrian Empire, the oldest nation to come out of the postmodern era, there was a cultural explosion of European nationalism and a revival of other nation states along with monarchies, serfdom, and other familiar social aspects of old Europa. Hoss enjoyed reading about this time as much as possible. In many ways, the Second Renaissance was still going on and would continue up until the birth of the Reich several decades later.

Hoss was currently sitting under an artificial tree in the recess area towards the back of the school building. He was ironically in the process of reading a book written out of the Second Renaissance which was published by an English nationalist to promote the concept of breathing life back into the long dead British Empire. He flipped the page in the book, the words droning on and on about England's superiority. As young Anton continued to read, he could not help but to subconsciously wish for someone such as the man who wrote this book to be born in his dome. With someone like this author, the nation of Germany might be able to return one day.

He kept reading through the contents of this manifesto until a shadow abruptly absorbed both he and his surroundings. Anton looked up to see his dear friend Joseph Herman looming over him. "Where have you been all day," asked Herman. Joseph was definitely an enigma. He was undergoing the same ideological changes that Hoss was going through, but on a far different scale. Joseph had been introduced to the idea of communism at a very young age, thanks to his father who was an established member of the small Socialist Party of New Berlin when he was still alive. Joseph was also quickly enveloped into the ideals of communism and Marxism. However, if there was one political regime Joseph leaned towards more than any other communist school of thought, it would be Stalinism.

Indeed, Joseph Herman found himself supporting the most fear inducing regime of all time. He enjoyed the theory of communism when it was melted into a political pot with ideals from a complete totalitarian despotism, and stirred together to get the social hybrid which was known as Stalinism. Of course, Marina had no intentions of actually creating someone like Herman. In fact, if Marina was aware that one of her favorite creations was friends with a communist, she would probably have killed Herman by now in the same way she left that child she called Heinrich to suffocate in the outside world some several years ago.

"I haven't been much of anywhere outside of the library today," Anton replied flatly as he closed the book in his hands and stood up to properly speak to his little comrade.

"Oh, I can see that," Joseph replied. "It's time to go back now. Lunch time is over. Did you not here the bell?"

Anton sighed and nodded at the comment. The two then proceeded to leave the tree. The same tree Hoss spent a considerable amount of time reading under just to pass the time of what could be easily described as the most boring point in his life. "Alright," Anton groaned with annoyance. He definitely did not enjoy having to return back to the boring subjects he had to study outside the sphere of history.

* * *

><p>Marina was observing all of this from the roof of the school which Anton and Joseph attended day in and day out. She smiled with approval as she admired her metaphorical child. She often looked at the entire German race to be her children, but if this was the case then Anton was her favorite. There was not a day that did not go by when she was not monitoring him and the other people she was in the process of creating for the soul purpose of reviving the Reich.<p>

The Proxy let out a slightly depressed sigh as she allowed Anton to stray from her sight. "I probably shouldn't be growing this attached to you and the others," she told herself. "But I simply can't help but love as if you were my actual children, rather than metaphorical ones."

* * *

><p>At the opposite end of town, a small crib contained inside a very expensive home, held within it, a young infant. This child was just born from the WombSys and sent off to a citizen of New Berlin. That citizen was a young woman who had taken on the niche of acting as the mother of this child who now bared the name of <em>Reginald<em>, Reginald Schrude. Even though it did not appear this way, just like young Anton and Joseph, Reginald was a very special child with the fate chosen for him to become the Minster of Foreign Affairs for Hoss's regime so many years later. Until then, Reginald would have a rather difficult life up until that very point.

With a worried expression, Reginald's mother slowly waved her hand back and forth in front of the child's face, but Reginald's eyes were not being responsive. Not only did his eyes not follow her hand but he also appeared to have trouble aligning them as well. It was clear to his mother at this point, Reginald was blind. This was a very rare problem which every WombSys had to deal with. They were not perfect machines and would occasionally create defective humans. Reginald's blindness would prove to be a problem later on, but at least he would actually be able to survive when his lack of sight would lead him to some very dangerous scenarios to come.

The mere existence of this child was yet another sign that the Second Renaissance had yet to have come to a conclusion. Yet another important figure was now alive and would help draw out a map of allegiances which would begin in Europe and soon stretch out to the far corners of Asia.

A few moments would pass before Reginald's mother, Eva Schrude let out a sigh of disappointment as she heard footsteps coming up from behind her. In stepped a man who looked slightly similar to Reginald but it was not expected since he was not truly Reginald's father, nor was she truly his mother.

"Rudolf," Eva began in a slightly melancholy tone of voice as she turned towards the man with black hair and blue eyes who came to a stop just in front of the baby's crib. He carried in his hands, a familiar wooden cane. "It is true what they told us," Eva continued. "Our son is indeed blind."

"I was in the attic," Rudolf began in a stern tone as he held out the cane for her to see. "I was rummaging around up there when I located this cane. It was the same walking stick my grandfather used but after he died we couldn't locate it. I was able to find it with such luck. It will be his from now on. He will use it to guide himself. Originally, I started looking for this a year ago just to have as a stylish piece of apparel but I believe my son has more use for it than I."

Rudolf then lifted the cane in the air and slowly placed it down in the crib next to Reginald. And so both the famous German diplomat and his equally famous cane were born. Even though no one could foresee it at the time, Rudolf giving his son the cane would help shape the continent of Europe. After all, if it were not for Reginald, Germany would never have gained very much momentum at all in the early years.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Anton Hoss was sitting in his history class which he often looked forward too. It unfortunately came at the end of the day. He was tired at this point and counted himself lucky that the last hour of the school day was always enjoyable, but he had to wait so long just to arrive to this point. Everything before this class in his eyes was useless knowledge thrown at him as an appetizer for that which can capture his actual interest.<p>

The instructor was currently not in the room which meant that a thick layer of silence now flooded the room. Anton was left quietly looking through the history textbook on his desk. He flipped the pages, scanning over titles and pictures to see if anything captured his intrigue, but nothing did at the moment. He then stopped his mindless searching as he turned to one particular page. A picture immediately caught his eye. It was the depiction of a red banner with a white circle in the middle. At the center of this white circle was a black swastika tilted on its axis.

Anton stared at the familiar flag for a few moments before he averted his eyes to a picture on the left hand side. It was a black and white photo of Adolf Hitler. The picture featured him screaming into the microphone at the Nuremberg Rally of 1933. Just underneath the picture of Hitler was an entire transcript of everything he said at that rally.

Hoss was about to begin reading over it when the teacher abruptly walked back into the room. Hoss heard him enter through the door which caused him to immediately close the book just when he was about to begin reading. Anton then promptly returned his attention to the front of the room and braced himself for yet another fascinating lesson. He absolutely adored his history teacher. Long after Hoss became Fuhrer, he would still often think back to the days he was being tutored by Mr. Wilhelm. It was this teacher who helped shape Hoss's world view along with the books he had been reading all this time. The enthusiasm he created in his lessons would captivate Anton. It would then eventually and completely unintentionally enforce Anton's formulating ideals on a nationalist Germany along with German superiority above everything on this earth.

In many ways, Mr. Wilhelm, as his students knew him, was a major factor in Hoss's life which would help set the stage for not only the formulation of the Forth Reich, but the solidification of the second generation of Axis nations. Indeed, the fate of the world had already been sealed. Germany was on the road to rebirth, and soon, World War II might be on the verge of rebirth as well.


	4. A Better World

_Note: Here's an interesting detail about __Ergo Proxy__. Does anyone recall some of the scenes in the original __Neo Europe__ when I was elaborating on how Romdeau was picking on Germany when it was still a little baby country? Well, apparently I've been spelling Donvo's name wrong. It's not actually Donvo it's freaking Donov. How the hell does someone get that wrong? No, scratch that last question. Instead we should be asking, who thinks it's a good idea to name a character Donov? What kind of name is that? It's clear that my version of the name is superior, but I'll revert back to the original since it's... original._

_Also, Quiet Town has finally been released! You might be asking yourself, where is it? Well, it isn't because I wrote the story and it turned out to be so good that only the coolest Ergo fans can see it on the site, it's actually a crossover story between __Ergo Proxy__ and Texhnolyze, surprise! Now, I know what some of you might be thinking, or at least if you're like me in anyway you'll be saying, why did you do this? Ergo Proxy does not deserve to share the same story as Texhnolyze. Well, I felt like someone had to do it at some point in time. So go and read that if you like that kind of thing. If you don't like that kind of thing then continue to read this chapter. You get a free pass for now, but I'll be back._

_Another thing, this chapter marks the beginning of the most difficult task I'll probably face in this story. I use to think it would be getting people to actually like the senior staff of the Reich, but I feel like I've succeeded since no one has complained about any of the characters yet. Now, I have to force the audience to like Marina through her interactions with Vincent, while at the same time, I have to remain true to the pairing of Neo Europe which is between Vincent and Re-L. However, I have to do all of this while making sure that Marina still acts like... well... Marina._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>"<em>How paramount the future is to the present when one is surrounded by children." ~Charles Darwin<em>

**Interval IV- A Better World**

_(Location: New Berlin, People's Reich)_

_(Date: January 3rd, 305AI)_

It would be very late at night when Hans, Vincent, Re-L, Pino, and Kristeva were able to return not only to New Berlin, but to their apartment complex. Hans led the way as he always did. He walked rather quickly ahead of the others due to his eagerness to finally return home. His first priority was to go to sleep as quickly as possible since he would be meeting the future leader of the newly reviving Kriegsmarine tomorrow. Although, Großadmiral Otto Vormich and the navy would not officially be sworn into the active branches of the German armed forces until later next week.

Westmar walked straight past Vincent and Re-L's apartment door and came to a stop at his door which was just next to theirs. He reached for the doorknob but stopped himself as he remembered something which would probably be important and worthy of mentioning. He then twirled around to face the group of people following him through the hall. "Re-L," he stated in a friendly tone of voice regardless of the face that he was incredibly exhausted, he still mustered a smile. "I just remembered. I've extracted the files from that disk. I can put them on a thumb drive if you want to look them over tonight or whenever."

"Oh right," Re-L replied as her memory of the disk returned to her. She recalled the time when she brought up the topic of the disk to Vincent during one of the first nights in which they were staying at the Eagle's Nest. The fact that he had no clue what she was referring to made her all the more curious about the strange disk which was lying around in the ruins of Romdeau, waiting to be found by her specifically. She then turned back towards Vincent who was still standing by the door. "I'll be back in a few moments," she informed. "Just go on to bed, Vincent. I'm not going to be awake for much longer either."

Vincent nodded his head tiredly. "Okay. Good night, Westmar."

Vincent then turned away and reached for the doorknob which would lead him to his apartment. Re-L then returned her attention to Westmar as Kristeva and Pino waved to him before they too followed Vincent into the apartment. "Look," Hans signed with exhaustion. "I'll give you the file on a thumb drive but you'll have to go and look at it on your computer because I am super tired."

"I thought your computer was the only one which could open old file formats such as the one on the disk," Re-L reminded.

"No, I just needed to extract it off the disk," Hans informed. "You can look at it on your computer without any trouble now. So let me give this to you and I'm going to bed. You get to stay up late, I don't. I have to go and meet the new Großadmiral tomorrow. I don't know when the Fuhrer is going to swear him in though."

Hans opened up the door to his apartment and stepped aside as he continued speaking, allowing Re-L to be the first one in the room for the sake of politeness. She stepped into the living room which was practically identical to hers. Hans shut the door behind themselves and immediately walked past Re-L and towards his computer which was positioned at the far end of the large living room.

"Let me just get whatever files were on that disk for you and I'll send you off with it," Hans explained as he pressed a button on his monitor which caused the holographic screen to activate. He then sat down and began typing. "Honestly Re-L, I hate to rush you off like this but I really need to get some sleep before tomorrow and you should too. It's already 11 O'clock and the Fuhrer said that... uh..." Westmar leaned back in his seat and scratched his head as he tried to remember the name of the future leader of the Kriegsmarine.

"You mean Mr. Vormich," Re-L questioned. "I know, I know. I won't be up too late but I need to at least have these files to look over them tomorrow. Everyone is going to be busy all the new navy plans which means I won't have anything to do tomorrow! Although, I say that so now you just sit and watch. The Reichsführer will just smell the fact that I'm not working and will find something for me to do all day. It happens every time. If I'm not signing papers of my own, I'm forging his signature because he wants to play games all day."

Hans could not help but laugh at Re-L's complaining. "I had to deal with the same thing. See, I was not the first Sturmführer. You might already know this but when I was first brought into the Reichstag a few years after we began the reunification process, Mr. Welinch thought he could get away with making me do most of his work for him. Eventually I became so absorbed with my own responsibilities that I told him he had to do it himself from now on."

"Yeah, but I don't have that luxury," Re-L stated with a roll of her eyes. "You were never his subordinate, I am. Anyway, I already knew you weren't the first Sturmführer. Who was the man in charge of the SA before you? I don't know anything about him."

"His name was Ewald Felix. That man was a little off his rocker," Westmar explained. "I was only a very insignificant volunteer when he was still running the SA. He basically tried to overthrow the government because he thought he could do a better job than the Fuhrer himself. This naturally caused a schism in the entire SA. The Fuhrer was prepared to use both the Wehrmacht and SS in order to destroy both sides of the SA completely. Don't ask me how I did it. Even to this day I still consider it to be blind luck but I actually bumped straight into Hoss, Conrad, and Welinch along with their body guards when they were taking a walk one night. I don't know why he listened to a volunteer, but I was able to convince the Fuhrer not to dissolve the SA. He ended up only destroying the defective side and placed me in Felix's seat."

Hans then returned to his surfing on his computer, signaling to Re-L that he had finished his little history lesson. "Regardless, none of that matters anymore." Hans then stopped himself as he realized there was only one file on Re-L's disk. "That's weird," Hans announced. "The only file on here is just a little text document named _Goodbye_."

Re-L tilted her head and crossed her arms in response. "That's strange. Well, just hand it over and I'll read it tomorrow. I'll let you know if it says anything about ODESSA. I don't know why it would, but I don't have any other idea as to what this disk is if it isn't something left for me by Vincent or has something to do with ODESSA."

"Why don't you just keep that ODESSA stuff between you, Mr. Welinch, and the Fuhrer," Hans proposed. "I know you guys find it interesting but the thought of an old SS underground railroad for prisoners is just not that interesting to me. That, and I'm sure if the information is important then you don't need to go around telling everyone about it."

Re-L shrugged her shoulders after hearing this. "If you say so."

* * *

><p><em>(Location: Falange Occupation, Leon)<em>

_(Date: January 4th, 305AI)_

Spain is one of the oldest nations to arise out of the Dark Ages. When the original Roman Empire collapsed, plunging all of Europe into an interval of darkness and chaos, the Spaniards were some of the first to rally their people and create one of the three world powers to be formulated during the Renaissance era.

However, before this was possible, there would be a massive religious conflict in the Spanish region of Europe. Hispania was constantly at war with. Kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula which remained faithful to Roman Catholicism and it's variants versus Islamic armies which would often arrive in Spain from the Moroccan region to set up little kingdoms of their own. In the 9th century AD, an idea began circulating amongst the Catholic populace in Spain. The idea of a 'Reconquista.' The concept of a unified Catholic Spain motivated the native Spaniards to fight with the Muslims over Iberia. This conflict lasted for several centuries until Iberia was divided into five kingdoms.

The Catholic kingdoms located in Iberia were Portugal, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon. The only remaining kingdom which kept Islam as its state religion was Grandia, an enclave positioned at the southern most end of Iberia. Eventually, Castile claimed Grandia as well as Navarre and Aragon. Eventually, it would become known as the Spanish Empire.

It was this empire that discovered the Americas, conquered the Aztecs, and defined what it takes to create a great naval fleet. Without the Spanish Empire, the world would most certainly not be the same as it currently is. The Spanish Empire would be the third strongest nation in the world and would keep that title for a long time.

However, when the twentieth century rolled around, all glory of old Spain would have disintegrated. The monarchy lost to a makeshift republic as a simple result of erosion over the past few centuries. Of course, out of every great spark in political change within a nation, there will always be an opposing side to such a conflict. In 1936 a military coup became effective when leftist idealists desired to create a new Republic of Spain which would better fit their visions. This immediately created the Second Republic of Spain. Although, this is not where the tale of Spain's democratic struggle ends.

Almost instantly after the establishment of a second republic, the nationalist demographic of Spain appeared to have become fed up with the idea of constantly switching governments. They seemed to cooperate rather nicely with the old Republic of Spain, but refused to yield to this new leftist government. This dispute between how Spain should be governed quickly spiraled out of control.

Parties joined together against their common enemies. Communists, social democrats, and anarchists alike formed to fight against the fascists, monarchists, and Catholic nationalists. The fascists rose victorious in this ideological struggle and effectively took control over Spain. Ironically, when one fast forwards to this present age, they could see strong similarities between that specific point in time and what was presently going on, not only in the Leon dome but in hundreds of domes all across Iberia.

In 245AI, fascist ideals began planting inside the minds of the Spanish youth within all of these domes but especially in the city of Leon which was located just north of the area which use to be known as Portugal. The Falange Party of Spain was recreated in 247AI. It had groan much stronger and spread to a wide variety of other domes across the region. Unfortunately for the fascists, their movement had not been as successful as similar groups had been in Germany and Black Italy.

The Republicans or loyalists have been in a stand off with the fascists for around half a century. The war itself had of course not been fought constantly for this entire time but there was always a skirmish somewhere in a random dome if not in Leon where the loyalists and nationalists fought each other all the time. Even though little progress other than a stalemate has been made over the years, the democratic governments in most of the Spanish domes were no longer in control. Iberia had been torn apart by two opposing forces who absolutely refused to back down. Small city wide governments simply could not manage themselves under such conditions.

Here in Leon was the location where the fascist family who originally started the movement resides. The Pecorrta family, or at least their only son at the moment was currently leading the party. The head of the party was commonly called 'Generalissimo.' In this case, the man given this title was ironically named after the original fascist leader of Spain, Francisco Franco. The man in charge today in the Leon dome was named Francisco Pecorrta.

Young Pecorrta walked through the ruined streets of Leon in a dark green uniform with a classic cross belt and visor cap on his head along with stereotypical boots. He had a sword strapped to his side which he mostly had for decoration but would often use it to conduct battles if he needed to. He had black hair and blue eyes along with a classical Spanish mustache.

He walked along a broken down sidewalk while one of his henchmen was walking with him, just to his right. The guardsman held out a tablet for Pecorrta to see even if the Generalissimo did not seem a bit interested in what he had to say. Pecorrta was most certainly listening to his comrade, but he did not slow his pace for anything.

"Generalissimo," the guardsman exclaimed. "I have fantastic news. The contact we have with Germany, Arthur von Ceizel, he has recently been promoted to General. He contacted us and said that he would do his best to convince the Fuhrer to order military intervention in our favor. With any luck, the Germans will send us volunteers, weapons, tanks, ammunition, and supplies to help us win the war against the loyalists!"

"Good to hear," Pecorrta complemented. "Now, tell me comrade, and don't be afraid to tell me the truth. I would like to know what the average opinion is on asking the Axis Powers for intervention. I myself am slightly hesitant about it, but from the few times I spoke to Ceizel, I have come to like him. What do you think, soldier?"

"Well, Generalissimo," the guardsman said hesitantly. "I have to admit, it has me concerned. It's no secret that the Axis nations just want revenge against the Socialist Republic, Union, and Commonwealth. That kind of thing is going to spark yet another global war. I believe that fully. So, the question you should ask yourself, Generalissimo, is are the Spanish people ready to join in on such a fight. Because one way or another, if we involve ourselves with the Axis or any of the former Allied nations, we're going to find ourselves thrown into the thick of it somehow."

* * *

><p><em>(Location: New Berlin, People's Reich)<em>

Marina sat in a rather large hotel room which the SS were allowing her to stay in while she waited to meet the Fuhrer. Since she did not have citizenship, nor could she ever be recognized as a German since she was a Proxy, Marina had not been allowed to leave the hotel room. Guards were constantly watching her and would bring her whatever meals she requested, but other than with the guards, Marina had not been able to communicate with anyone since she returned to New Berlin.

She sat at a large table in her room which was positioned just in front of a massive window. This window granted her a good view of the city. She was wearing a blue outfit which consisted of casual blue shirt, black pants and stylish leather boots. Marina gazed out to the city which not only marked the capital of one of the most powerful nations in the known world, but the point of origin for her metaphorical child, Germania.

"Marina," the familiar voice of one of the SS-men sent to watch over her stated from behind. The Aryan-esque Proxy turned to face him with a bright smile on her face. "You have a visitor," the soldiers said flatly before he turned around and walked away. Marina did not say anything in response, she merely lifted her eyebrow in astonishment as she was not expecting anyone to see her until she finally met with the Fuhrer, whenever that would be.

She waited for only a brief moment before a familiar face entered her room and shut the door behind himself. She immediately recognized this person to be Vincent Law which caused her grin to grow in an odd manner. Vincent did not appear to happy to be here, but Marina was visibly excited to see him.

"_Vince_," she greeted and stood up. "I didn't think you would come to see me. Here I thought you didn't like me, but I'm pretty hard not to like." Marina then placed her hands behind her back and skipped over to where Vincent was standing and leaned a little too close to him. Vincent instinctively backed off and even pushed her away slightly.

"Stop it," Vincent stated firmly. Marina adopted a more comical smile as she realized Vincent was actually attempting to act as a dominant personality in this scenario. She found it adorable that he was literally trying to portray himself much tougher than he actually was. "I don't like you. I don't even want to be here. I just came by because I have one question that I need answered and I think you're the only person who knows that answer."

Marina rolled her eyes playfully and tilted her head at him. "Oh? And what might that be? If your question is, will I kill that black haired woman for you because she isn't nearly as wonderful and beautiful as I am, then the answer is no. I would love to, but I'd get in trouble. Although, if you do it, I won't tell on you."

"Shut up," Vincent sighed. He almost attempted to yell but he simply could not muster the energy required to do so. "That's not what I want to know. I should have known this would be a waste of time before I even came to visit you."

"I'm teasing you, Vince," Marina snickered. "If you have a question then just ask me. The least I can do is answer it, seeing as how I now have a chance to live in my favorite country because of you."

Vincent sighed once more but decided it would be best not to wait any longer as he was growing impatient with the blonde Proxy in front of him. "Marina, what do you know about the Lost Ones? Who are they, and where do the come from?"

"I don't know," Marina stated with an unwavering smile.

This was all Vincent needed to hear. He then shrugged his shoulders and walked away. As he did this, Marina quickly turned back and looked towards the window before she returned her attention to Vincent. "Hey! Wait!" Vincent stopped but did not turn to face her. "Before you go. Could you take me outside? Could we go do something today? I don't care what as long as we get out of here."

"No," Vincent replied in his usual wimpy tone of voice. "I know what you're trying to do, so no. I'm not taking you anywhere."

"I'm not trying to do anything," Marina reassured. "I haven't been allowed outside for the past two weeks. Could you just take me to do something? Maybe I could follow you around while you do, whatever it is that you do on days like this."

Vincent still did not face her. While he wanted to help her for the sheer sake of it being apart of his personality, he knew it was a waste of time. "The Fuhrer is going to see you tomorrow. Just wait until then. Besides, I've got more important things to do. Goodbye."

Before Vincent could walk away, Marina flickered out of sight, just as any Proxy would do. She then appeared not even a few inches away from his face with that entrancing smile of hers and cheerfully closed eyes. "But maybe if you were to take me out for the day," Marina whispered. "I might just remember something about the Lost Ones. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Vincent narrowed his eyes at Marina in defeat. He then lowered his head and looked to the ground out of his own annoyance. He was beaten. If she knew anything about the Lost Ones, a topic Vincent really had no business learning about in the first place, then it would be best to hear what she has to say seeing as how he has no knowledge of them whatsoever.

* * *

><p>Fuhrer Hoss sat in his office while a familiar young man sat in a seat on the other side of his desk. This man was none other than the newly appointed SS general, Arthur von Ceizel. He sat in one of the two visitor's chairs with a creepy little grin on his face. Hoss had a much more serious expression as he spoke to Ceizel.<p>

"My Fuhrer," Ceizel began calmly. "I am so honored that you took the time to see me. I have information regarding an event that is going on in the westernmost region of Europe. I have discovered an event that could possibly grant us an all new ally. Since I was recently promoted to this position as a result of General Röfter's incompetence, I believe this to be my first contribution to the Reich."

"And what might this event be," Hoss questioned cynically. He clearly did not like Ceizel in the least but he would at least tolerate him for the sheer fact that it was Heinrich's decision to promote him. He felt as if there must be some redeeming quality about Ceizel if this was the case.

Ceizel leaned back in his seat confident of what he was about to say. "Their is a civil war being fought in old Spain. The war is between social democrats and comrades of our party. I was able to reach the leader of what the Spaniards call, the Falange Party. They're a group of nationalists, just like us. I must advise you, my Fuhrer, that we act quickly to not only resolve this conflict, but see to it that in the process, our Spanish comrades win the war."

"There's a civil war going on amongst the Spaniards," asked Hoss which caused Ceizel to nod in conformation. "And why do you want to be involved with their conflict. It would reflect badly on us if we were to randomly declare war on one side of that conflict if we have no business being there in the first place. Would it not?"

"My Fuhrer," Ceizel explained dismissively. "I have a plan. One that will ensure our diplomatic image is not tainted. I can ensure you that this will not be linked back to our military directly. Send me to Spain. I will train their soldiers and win the war. All you have to do is send supplies and weapons. We will not intervene directly and therefore, by international law we are not a belligerent in the actual arena."

"Why do you want to go to Spain so badly," Anton questioned. "What are you hoping to gain out of a conflict you have no business in? Surely there must be some reason why you would randomly contact the fascists in Spain."

"There is, my Fuhrer," Ceizel confirmed. "I want Spain to be my proving ground. We all know a global conflict is looming over the Reich and her allies. You need generals of whom you know will come out victorious. I wish to prove my competence by taking all of Spain. She will then become yet another ally to Germania."

Hoss lifted an eyebrow at Ceizel but eventually let out a relaxed sigh. "I'll think about it, General Ceizel," the Fuhrer stated firmly. He then glanced towards the clock on the wall to check the time before returning his attention to the man in front of him. "I'll definitely think about it."


End file.
